Sarawak dominates Para Sukma XXI powerlifting with 13 golds

KUCHING (Sept 27): Sarawak emerged as the overall champion at the Para Malaysia Games (Para Sukma) XXI powerlifting today after capturing 13 gold, one silver and four bronzes.

During the finals at the Youth and Sports Department Sarawak Multi-purpose Hall today, Muhamad Fuad Alen added two more gold medals to Sarawak’s medal tally with his best lift of 106kg and total lift of 311kg in the men’s 59kg.

His teammate Danggang Tiong took the bronze with a total lift of 188kg.

The silvers were won by Muhammad Bukhari Md Zen of Johor with the best lift of 107kg and total lift of 196kg.

With the 13 golds, Sarawak also surpassed its target of 12 golds, a performance which head coach Jamil Adam regarded as outstanding.

“The team’s overall performance was better than what we had expected, those we expected to win medals had delivered and some of them lifted higher weights in their respective events,” Jamil told The Borneo Post.

Jamil, who is also national head coach, said national powerlifters in the Sarawak team Azlan Mos and Bryan Junency Gustin had performed up to expectations after breaking national records and bagging two golds each in their respective categories.

“The younger brother of two-time Paralympic gold medalist Bonnie Bunyau Gustin, Brownson John Gustin, has shown promise as he won a bronze after only five or six months of training with the state squad.

“Personally, l feel satisfied with the team’s achievement in this Para Sukma and there are some good potential athletes like young Brownson and Johannes whom we can build up to perform at national level and rope them into the national training programme to prepare them for international competitions,” he said.

Sarawak’s powerlifting team comprises 18 athletes.

Those who delivered the golds were Johannes (men’s 49kg best lift, total lift), Azlan (men’s 65kg best lift, total lift), Mohd Firdaus Affandi (men’s 80kg best lift, total lift), Bryan (men’s 88kg best lift, total lift), Bibiana Ahmad (women’s 61kg best lift, total lift) and Melinda Tiong Zhing Zhing (women’s 61kg best lift).

The solitary silver was won by Melinda in the women’s 61kg total lift.

Contributing the bronzes were Brownson (men’s 80kg best lift), Rosnani Kassim (women’s 61kg best lift, total lift) and Danggang Tiong (men’s 59kg).